The present invention relates to a food product comprising pulses and other high starch seeds. Pulses include legumes, such as beans, that are typically dry as harvested and need reconstitution with water to prepare them for eating. Such pulses are typically harvested when they have matured and are dry. Pulses include: kidney beans, haricot beans, pinto beans, navy beans, lima beans, butter beans, adzuki beans, mung beans, black gram, scarlet runner beans, ricebeans, moth beans, tepary beans, broad beans, horse beans, field beans, dry peas, garden peas, protein peas, chickpeas, garbanzo beans, cowpeas, black-eyed peas, blackeye beans, pigeon peas, arhar/toor, cajan peas, congo beans, lentils, bambara groundnuts, earth peas, vetch, lupins, lablab, hyacinth beans, jack beans, sword beans, winged beans, velvet beans, cowitch and yam beans.
Pulses are typically dry and hard until cooked in water, making them chewable by a human. Their natural water content after harvest is on the order of about 10% total moisture by weight. Hydration and cooking of the pulse softens the texture to make them chewable and to change the taste profile. Hydration can be done as a one step process at elevated temperatures during a cooking step or in a multi step process, where the first step is soaking in water overnight prior to the cooking step. To have such pulses sold as ready to eat in hydrated form means that the product will need to be sterilized, and have added acid(s) or humectant(s), or other means of preservation. Pulses are sold to consumers both dry and fully hydrated (usually in an excess of water (or sauce) that is drainable) as in sealed metal cans. However, a typical cooked pulse is very soft and has little resistance to bite when chewed and are wet on the outside necessitating the use of an eating utensil for consumption to avoid finger soiling.
Thus, such pulses are: a) either fully hydrated by cooking necessitating some preservation means; or b) dry and inedible as is. The present invention overcomes this problem of edibility and provides a finished product, such as beans, that can be eaten as is as a snack or the like or incorporated into other food products without having to be additionally cooked. It also provides a traditional cooked bean taste and a firmer texture.